“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” -Jack Welch During a training session today, I discussed the danger of being a leader that does it all. Many leaders fall into the trap of continuing to view their success through their own personal production instead of team outcomes. They decide to just put all the responsibility on their shoulders and carry everything instead of getting the team

“Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.” -Hugh Mackay I was working with someone recently and we were discussing their strategy. Their fear was that they would create a plan that would fail because “there are a lot of moving parts and a million different variables.” The truth is, at any moment there is no perfect answer. Life is messy and there will always be variables. Especially when dealing with other pe

“The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation. You are not important because of how long you live, you are important because of how effective you live.” -Myles Munroe With the passing of Dolly Parton, this quote seemed relevant. She was someone who tried to make a difference in the lives of others. In fact, from the time my kids were about two years old, they could recognize her. They would receive books from her Imagination Library, so they knew her as “the

“Life is not linear; you have ups and downs. It’s how you deal with the troughs that defines you.” -Michael Lee-Chin We all want things to go our way. To catch all the luck and be super successful would be the dream. But what if bad luck is good luck in disguise? How many times in life does our bad luck either lead us to be in position for our next opportunity or provide the motivation to get out of whatever rut you are stuck in and give maximum effort? If you didn’t go throu

“Time, the devourer of all things.” -Ovid Have you ever said the phrase, “I don’t have time for that.” I consistently work with leaders on the concept of time management. A lot of leaders will say they simply don’t have the time to get something done. While this may sound true, it is also one of the easiest time management traps to fall into. And most of us have probably said those words or something similar at one point or another. Here is the truth, it isn’t about time at a

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. -Denis Waitley This week I was thinking about the concepts of happiness and fulfillment. I was working with leaders, and I remind them that we can’t be responsible for the happiness of our team members, but it is our responsibility to help them find fulfillment in the work we are doing together. While thinking about t

“There is an opportunity cost for everything we do. This is why we must have awareness to ensure that what value we are pursuing is really what we value, because the pursuit leaves countless lost opportunities in its wake. We choose one experience at the sacrifice of all other experiences.” -Chris Matakas When choosing what to pursue in our lives, it is important to think about the concept of opportunity costs. An opportunity cost is everything else you are giving up in order

“Guilt is just as powerful, but its influence is positive, while shame's is destructive. Shame erodes our courage and fuels disengagement.” -Brene Brown I have read a lot about “clean fuel” versus “dirty fuel” when exploring motivations for why humans behave as we do. The interesting thing is that they are often near the same zip code within us. For example, in the quote above, guilt is not very far from shame in our minds but the way we respond is very different. With guilt,

“Desire is the key to motivation, but its determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.” -Mario Andretti Commitment can be difficult for humans because it requires effort over an extended period of time. It is often easy for people to start a new project or set a new goal, but the follow through is often lacking. Think about New Year’s resolutions. They are easy to set, t

“The ability to recognize opportunities and move in new - and sometimes unexpected - directions will benefit you no matter your interests or aspirations.” -Drew Gilpin Faust When I work with leaders, a lot of times we need to plan for the future. By planning, it allows us to continually work toward desired outcomes instead of being a passenger along for the ride. However, what happens if we are too rigid in our commitment toward one outcome? In life, I have noticed that there

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” -Oscar Wilde You don’t always know the power of a smile or a kind word, but those small gestures can make the biggest difference. Often times as we walk past others on the street or even in a hallway in our building, we don’t see the full weight of the burdens they are carrying. We don’t truly know how hurt they are or even if they have given up hope. And that is why a smile or showing someone appreciation can

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” -Rabindranath Tagore Today in class we talked about sales and service. The key to good sales is that it is focused on service. When you offer something to someone that they need, you are doing it right. However, if you offer products because of quotas or other selfish reasons, you are doing it wrong. This concept applies to so much in life though. When humans do

“The people you surround yourself with influence your behaviors, so choose friends who have healthy habits.” -Dan Buettner I was working with bankers with the Illinois Bankers Association this week. Many of my leadership classes can have a serious tone because of the subject material. However, the bankers I worked with were an incredible group of bankers that made it very fun. So today is all about recognizing the impact of the people around you on your performance and outcom

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” -Albert Einstein I have been thinking about the question, “What makes a place worth fighting for while others are readily abandoned?” You will have to forgive the history teacher in me for a moment as I explain, but I will tie it back to work and why this is so important to think about as a team player or organizational leader. Ancient ruins fascinate me so during our recent vacation my wife and I visited several of the

“Love is the most powerful force in business.” -Marcus Buckingham I am currently on a vacation celebrating my 15-year anniversary and I have been reading a book called “Design Love In” by Marcus Buckingham. I learned about this book on The Learning Leader podcast with Ryan Hawk and had to look into it. The premise of the book is simple, but so powerful. It starts with the question, “How do we design more of our experiences to bring love into the equation instead of designing

“When choosing what you want to do with your life, don’t do what you think you will be highly rewarded for. Choose what you would be willing to do even when you are not rewarded for it. That is a secret for living a fulfilling life.” -Omony Geoffrey Ocaya An important lesson in life is that you can’t just pursue a career that is solely about profit. If you do that, you may find the wealth you are pushing for but will also realize that there was a huge cost to it along the way

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” -Samuel Beckett When building effective teams and creating positive outcomes for organizations, we often overlook the impact of failure. You see, many of us view failure as the enemy or something to be avoided. However, failure is often just the first step towards progress. Think about it. How many inventions do we use that were not the first attempt at the product but the result of trial and error? Or

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” -Heraclitus This quote was on my mind this week as I have been thinking about coaching team members and developing growth plans for them. Rivers are in constant motion. They are ever changing and never stop moving forward unless acted on by an outside force. This is a great image that aligns with growth for people. We can constantly change and better ourselves as long as we con

“Camaraderie doesn’t happen by accident; developing a strong sense of trust, accountability, and togetherness around team goals requires intentional effort.” -Don Yaeger This week a lot of my conversations have circled back to the word intentionality. Especially in relation to goals. So often we set a goal, or our team has a goal, yet we don’t approach accomplishing the goal with intentionality. Please note that I am not blaming any leaders for this issue when I point it out

“I think consistency comes with hard work and execution really. You’ve got to be able to do it every day.” -Mac Jones In class the other day, we were talking about trust. A big part of building trust is the ability to be consistent. When people know what to expect from you, they can be more open and honest. However, being consistent is hard. It isn’t easy to show up every day and give your best effort. In fact, there may be some days where you are tired, have a lot of other